How to Save a Life
by n0xi0us.n1rvaNa
Summary: JetxOC.Maybe a little ZukoxOC later:A story following the younger sister of Jun.Shen,a 17 year old girl who works as an assassin,but also hides a deep secret about herself.What happens when she crosses paths with Jet and ends up owing him her life?
1. Chapter 1

**authors note: Shen and all of her weapons as well as other pictures needed in the series will be posted on my site: www. aeonsoul234 . webs . com**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE:  
****The Assassin**

"Please, I need both of you. I can't take him down on my own." the man said, getting down on his knees in front of Jun. We were both at the bar we usually were in, sitting down at the table that had been claimed as ours. Even though I was only 17, my tolerance for alcohol was quite high since drinking was inevitable in a bar... Especially when everyone is scared of your older, pressuring sister. Jun could get just about anything from anyone in the bar, including drinks for an underaged girl. One more year and I'd be legal, though.

"Sorry, you don't got enough money for both of us. You need me to track this guy down and you need her to kill him for you. We need four times the amount your asking for at minimum." Jun answered. In our little business, Jun was the bounty hunter and I was the assassin. Our father was a bounty hunter before, so he taught both of us our skills. Our mother passed away after giving birth to me. I remembered that randomly he'd get into bad moods with me and was quite hostile... As if he blamed me for my mother's death or something else, maybe. That's enough about that though... We were supposed to share Nyla when he gave her to us, but Jun ended up just taking her for herself... She was the older and the stronger one, plus she was a spoiled brat when she was younger. That attitude still stays with her today when it comes to prices. She always gets what she wants. Thank god she was appreciative of other things, otherwise she would've been a pain to work with. Then again, most of the time we didn't even work together. A bounty and an assassination are two completely different things. I watched the man as he walked out of the bar.

"I'm gonna take a breather." I said after five minutes.

"Sure, whatever. I'll be here... Like always." Jun said with a roll of her eyes. I walked outside of the bar to see that the man was sitting down against the outer wall of the bar.

I walked up to him, but he didn't look at me. "Why do you want to have a Fire Nation General hunted down anyway?"

The man looked up at me in tears. "He destroyed my village! Burned everything! The houses... The farms... Even the people... My entire family is dead because of the Fire Nation! I can't rest until I know that he's paid for what he's done."

I stayed silent for a minute. "Do you have any idea where he is now?"

"What?" the man asked.

"If you give me a general location, I can track him down from there without the Shirshu." I said.

"B-But, y-your sister-"

I interrupted the man before he finished. "My sister doesn't speak for both of us all the time. Now, tell me something about this man before I lose my interest in helping you..."

"T-The last I heard of them, h-he burned down another village east of mine, Tao Shai Village. H-He shouldn't be far from there." the man answered. I got on top of my giant puma, a pet that I found myself four years ago as a kitten and now used as a steed.

"Come back here in two days. I'll be here." I said. And with that I rode off towards Tao Shai. I got to the village in about a day. Kala's(my giant puma) speed was one that rivaled that of the Giant Eel Hound. Sadly, Tao Shai was already burned down... Not a pretty sight. Some of the buildings were still in the process of burning down, which meant that the battalion wasn't far ahead of here. I rode through the village quickly. If I saw anyone who needed me, I would've been there forever helping them. It was my personality. I was the complete opposite of my sister; I'd help anyone who came to me that was suffering no matter what they paid me. I charged extra for the people who wanted me to kill people for spite. My sister and I had no real allegiances to any nation. We just worked for the higest bidder. We wouldn't turn away anyone who was willing to pay our prices. They were ridiculously high, but not for no reason. Both of us did our jobs fast and well. I located the batallion's camp about thirty miles away from the burned down village. I waited until it was nighttime and everyone in the camp was asleep including the lookouts. I couldn't take all of them if they were trying to attack me all at once... I got off of Kala in the middle of the forest.

"Shh... Stay here until I come back." I said as I got my ring blade and shirasaya from his saddle. I attached the ring blade to the belt that went across my shoulders and held the shirasaya in my hand. My ring blade was my main weapon when it came to fighting, but my shirasaya was special to me for stealthy assassinations. Unlike most swords, it was sharpened on both sides. I reached into the bag on Kala's side and tied it over my nose and mouth. I reached into it again and pulled out a small bag that I attached the the belt that hung loosely around my waist. It held small things like several types of bombs(smoke, regular explosive, poison, etc.), shuriken, two kunai, poison darts and a blow gun, some distractions(like small balls, a toy duck)and a large supply of flying blowfish poison... Well, I only had a small vial of it, but it didn't take a large dose to kill people. One drop from the vial could kill a dozen full grown men. Flying Blowfish were crosses between flying fish and blowfish. They're extremely dangerous because they are aggresive and attack anything that comes within five feet of them in any direction... Thank god they're solitary creatures... Kala sat down and whimpered a little bit as I started to walk away. I walked back to him, shushed him a little and then pet him as he nuzzled his face up against mine. I climbed up a tree next to Kala, making sure to stay hidden in its shadows. When I got to a comfortable spot, I observed the camp layout; One look out in front of the entire camp, three rows of three tents that looked like they could house two soldiers, and one larger tent in the back of the others. The larger tent was obviously the place where my target slept; General Wei. Killing the General wouldn't be a problem, it was getting rid of the other men. I had to somehow wipe out the entire batallion... I examine the tents from the tree top. Each one of them had a fire with a cooking pot over it and barrel next to it. I guess that was their water supply. Since there were pots over the fires, they definately used the water to make soup in the pots. I could definately go around and poison that. Food was alway a first concern of batallions and I don't think anyone would be wanting to wake the general up. I suspected that in camps like these, the general usually woke up by himself and went out in the morning at his own leisure. I took a deep breath and then pulled out my small blow gun and a single dart. I loaded the dart into the gun and brought it to my lips, aiming for the lookout's neck. I took another deep breath and let out a strong puff of air. A mere second and a half later, the soldier awoke from his slumber and clutched his neck. He got up, bad move... Within five seconds, he fell to the floor. He wasn't dead, merely paralyzed. Since he got up the poison spread throughout his body. I got out of the tree and walked towards the camp. I stopped at the guard and picked him up over my shoulder quietly. I tossed him in a bush so he was hidden and let the poison carry out its task. Completely paralyzed, he would die within ten minutes. He was even blind right now. I walked over to the nearest tent from behind it, being careful not to have shadows casted by the fire, and peered at the barrel next to it. I was right, it was a water supply. I reached into my pouch on my right side and took out the vial of flying blowfish poison and then carefully removed the lid of the barrel before dropping the poison in it. Then I crept up to the General's tent, slipping into it as the wind blew. He stirred a little in his bed and I hid in the shadows in the corner of the tent. I snaked up to him slowly and unsheathed my shirasaya. With one swing, I chopped off his head. I swung my shirasaya again, cleaning the blood off of it and resheathed it. Then I bent down next to General Wei's decapitated body and pulled the bloody gold dog tag that was on his neck off of him. On one side, there was a fire nation emblem. On the other it said "General Sho Wei of the 5th Batallion". It was good enough proof. After examining it, I put it into my pouch and walked out of the tent, back to Kala unnoticed. I tapped his side twice and he followed me quietly as we both walked away from the camp. When we were about 50 feet away from it, I got on top of him and we rode back towards Changsha, my home town where the bar was. I got to my house with Kala the next morning at about 4AM. I sleepily walked Kala over to his stable, which he shared with Nyla. Nyla peeked her head up when we walked in, sniffing around a little, but went back to sleep when she knew it was only us. I fed Kala and gave him water. Then I opened up the gate to the blanket covered hay where Nyla slept. Kala brushed up against me, knocking me over. I chuckled and slapped his rear.

"Get in there, ya big fur ball!" I whispered. He obliged and stepped beyond the gate with a yawn. I closed the gate behind Kala and then walked into the house. I sighed in relief as I walked quietly through the dark house into my room. I reached for the oil lamp on my dresser and turned it on, putting my bag down on my dresser and the rest of my weapons down on the floor.

"Some breather you took..." I heard a voice behind me say.

I jumped a little... Jun was the only person who could sneak up on me... "I was doing a job."

Jun sighed. "I said 'no' to him for a reason, Shen. That guy doesn't have enough money to pay us for the repercussions of killing a Fire Nation General."

I turned around and her grey eyes met mine. Our eyes would be exactly the same if not for the golden flakes that flared in mine. "I have my reasons for helping him. Turns out he didn't need you after all..."

Jun groaned and turned around. "I really don't get you sometimes..."

"That's why you love me!" I called out of my door as she walked away.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Jun answered. As she continued to walk, she didn't turn around. She simply waved her hand back at me as if she were swatting a fly away.

* * *

That night when we went to the bar, I spotted the man and walked up to him. Then I gestured for him to follow me outside.

"Were you able to do it?" he asked.

I reached into my pocket and took out the General's dog tag, which still had his blood stain on it. I tossed it on the floor by the feet of the man.

"Is that enough proof or would you rather me have brought his head?" I asked as he bent down on the floor and picked it up out of the dust. He reached into his own pocket and pulled out a sack of money that was mostly empty. He put it in my hand and closed my finger around it.

"T-This is all I have. I'm sorry I couldn't pay you any more... T-Thank y-you s-so much..." The man started to break down into tears.

I looked away for a second, but then flipped my hand over so that mine was on top of his with the sack inbetween us. "Keep it."

I took my hand away from his as he grabbed the sack and began to walk away.

"W-Wait! You don't want-"

I interrupted the man. "You've already lost your village. I don't want you losing the only money that you have left..."

The man stayed silent. I turned around.

"Now get out of here before I change my mind..." I said with an emotionless face. The man looked at me, smiled once and then left. I walked back into the bar and up to Jun, who was arm wrestling. I pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, leaning on the other side of the table.

She looked at me. "So, how much did he give you?"

"I let him keep what he had." I answered, not looking at her.

She slammed the man's hand down on the table at the same time as she said "WHAT?"

The crowd roared and coins were tossed on the table. My gaze still remained away from her. Jun got up and pulled me away from the table after collecting her money.

She slammed me up against a wall and made me look at her. She was furious. "What do you mean 'I let him keep what he had'? The fuck is the matter with you? We're not a charity! We charge for our work, no donations here! Especially since the Fire Nation's gonna be on our ass if they find out!"

"It was _my _job not _ours_. I can charge whatever I want for jobs that are _mine_." I answered, glaring at her.

"I told you, the reason I said no yesterday was to protect us. Do you have any fucking clue how mad the Fire Nation would be if they knew we killed one of their generals?"

"I thought we were neutral?" I spat out.

"We are neutral. That doesn't mean that we can't refuse work when it's gonna come and bite us in the ass! I am not moving from here just for you, Shen. You got that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, if they come after me. I'll leave."

Jun laughed a little and then walked away. "I'm only lookin' out for you. I'm still the older one. You should listen to what I say."

"As if!" I yelled. I loved Jun with all my heart, but she could such a pain in the ass sometimes... She was probably thinking the same exact thing in her own mind though. Then again, I did see her point... And I was serious about leaving if the Fire Nation ever found out it was me and pursued me somehow... I'd do anything to keep her out of danger.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO :  
****Charity Work**

I was on my way back to Changsha from another job on Kala. We had to go pretty far out, but the pay was worth the trip. Jun was getting a little angry since this was another job that she wasn't needed for. The client knew exactly where the target was. All I had to do was get there and kill him. It was a middle aged man, an earthbender. I didn't ask any questions. I took the earthbender's wedding ring. It had his name and the name of his wife, who I figured out was dead as I creeped into his house. I was dozing in and out of sleep. Kala was even walking instead of running. I didn't blame her for being tired. I was tired too.

I leaned down and pet his side. "Just a little bit further and then we'll rest for a while, okay boy?"

Kala made a little purring sound in response and I sat back up on him.

_"Tired, aren't we?" _said a voice in my head. It was similar to mine, but a couple pitches lower.

"Get out of my head... I don't need you." I said out loud.

_"Heh, that's not what your subconcious was saying when you got caught before... Pretty dumb to sneak up on an earthbender if you ask me..." _

"I wasn't asking you anything. Leave now..."

_"Aww, what's wrong sweetie? Why don't you let me take over for a little while and take a nap? I'm perfectly fine. You need your rest." _

"No!"

_"Your tough act is pretty cute... But this is my body, too... I'll come out when I want to. Especially since you've been starting to feel a lot of things, lately. You're not controlling me like you used to."_

I was about to fight back, but I heard a girl's scream. I looked ahead to see five figures, one considerably smaller than the other four. I took out a small pair of binoculars from the bag strapped to Kala and looked through them. A very tomboyish girl with paint under her eyes was being chased by four fire nation men. There were three coming up behind the four that were already after her.

"Let's go, Kala!" I said as I whipped the reins in my hand that attached to his neck. He growled a little and ran as fast he could towards the girl. We got there when one of them was about to firebend at her. Kala roared loudly from behind him, rearing up on his hind legs and then falling out top of him, biting down on his neck hard. The girl cowered away a little, in both fear of Kala and shock when she saw me on top of him. I took out my ring blade and launched myself off of Kala. I landed ontop of another firebender around her, knocking him out and then scissor kicked the one that came up behind me as I planted my ring blade on the floor for support. I rolled, dodging a fire blast from him as he was pushed back by my kicks and then came up, knocking the firebender out with a strong hit from my ringblade to the jaw. I ran over to the girl as one of the firebenders approached her and chucked my ringblade at the guy. He was sliced in half by it and the ringblade stuck to the tree behind him. It was a little brutal. I wanted to hold back on the killing seeing the fear in the girl's eyes before, but I think seeing one more death was worth living. I looked around, Kala had killed the other soldiers that had tried to attack her and there were no more in sight. I sighed and walked up to the tree to pull my ringblade out of it. I put my hand on it, but turned around when I heard the girl speak.

"T-Thank You..." she said.

I smiled at her, she still looked terrified. "It's no problem... I'm sorry you had to see me and my puma kill them."

"I think I'll live.. Thanks to you, that is." she said with a smile back at me.

"My name's Smellerbee, what's yours?" she asked.

"Shen..." I answered. I paused for a minute and then continued talking. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here all by yourself?"

"Oh... About that... I was sent by my leader to scout the area. I was spotted by those fire nation soldiers when I was alone. Usually, I'm with my other friend, Longshot. He's really good with a bow, so the rare times that we're caught, it isn't a problem. I wandered farther from everyone else than I thought I did." Smellerbee answered.

I smiled, shaking my head a little. "Do you have a home?"

"Yeah, its probably about five or six miles from here."

"Do you want a ride?" I asked. I put my thumb and pointer finger in my mouth and whistled in two pitches, first a lower one and then a higher one. Kala ran over to me.

Smellerbee fell on her behind when Kala approached us. "Not on that thing!"

I laughed a little and pulled Smellerbee to her feet. I pet Kala's sid and he started purring.

"You don't need to be scared of Kala. He's just a big pussy cat. Awwh, aren'tcha, boy?" I said, going into a babyvoice towards the end. Smellerbee laughed.

"He fights when he needs to, otherwise he's harmless." I said. Smellerbee cautiously reached her hand out and pet Kala's head. He purred louder and stepped forward, licking her. She let out a little chuckle. I held onto the side of Kala's neck and then swung myself onto his saddle. Then I extended my hand to Smellerbee. She took it and I helped her onto the back of the saddle.

"Just tell me which way to go and hold on tight." I said.

Smellerbee pointed west. "That- WAYYY!"" her sentence turned into a scream as we sped off. After about ten minutes of riding out, we saw five people. There was a small boy sitting on top of the shoulders of a large, muscular boy, another boy with a straw hat with a bow in his right hand and a quiver on his back, and two other people who looked alike. One was a boy with long brown hair and two hookswords and the other was a girl that looked a lot like him, except shorter with more feminine features, larger eyes and long wavy hair in the same colour that he had**(authors note: pic of her on site)**.

"SMELLERBEE!" the girl yelled at the top of her lungs as she looked around frantically.

"That's them! They're over there!" Smller bee said, pointing at the people. I yanked Kala's reigns in their direction and he ran towards them. They all got their weapons ready as we approached them. I stopped in front of them, saying nothing.

"Who are you?" the boy with the hookswords asked after quickly darting his eyes from my face, down my body and back up to my face.

Smellerbee poked her face out from behind me. "Hey guys!"

The boy lowered his hookswords as everyone else lowered their weapons. "Smellerbee?"

She hopped down from Kala and walked up to the boy. "It's okay Jet. This is Shen. She saved me when I got attacked by firebenders when I strayed away from you guys."

She turned to me. "Shen, this is Jet. He's the leader of the group I'm part of. The Freedom Fighters."

"Heylo there! I'm Fuujin! You can call me Fuu! I'm his twin sister!" the girl said with a large smile. She bent down and hugged Smellerbee tightly. Smellerbee let out a little yelp as she did so.

"Oh Smelly, we were so worried about you!" Fuu said as she rubbed her cheek against Smellerbee's.

"C-Cant B-breathe!" Smellerbee said. Fuujin let go of her and got up, brushing herself off. My eyes fell to her katana. The sheath was black while the handguard was gold. The handle was a dragon head and body with its arms against its sides, made of pure white jade. Its eyes were made of sapphires. It looked stunning... I had to admit, I was a little jealous of it.

Jet looked up at me. "You saved her?"

I nodded.

"Thank you! Thank you so much for bringing Smelly back!"

"You workin' for anyone? Or, is anyone working under you, I should say?" Jet asked.

"I work for myself and what do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Well, I just thought that someone as beautiful as you would have other people to do all of her work for her." Jet said. The piece of wheatgrass moved a little as his mouth curved into a smirk.

"I don't fall for sweet talk. Try somethin' else..." I said.

"If you're working for yourself, how would you like to join me? Be a part of the Freedom Fighters?" Jet asked.

"Sorry, I'm gonna have to say no on that one. I actually have a job." I said.

"Aw, c'mon Shen! You'd make a great addition to us! Your fighting is amazing!" Smellerbee said.

"Sorry there, kiddo. My answer's still the same. I have someone back at home that I can't leave." I answered.

Jet looked down for a little, but then smirked as he looked back up. "Well, the offer's always open for you. Our place isn't too far from here. It's about three miles west, in the trees."

"Thanks."

"Don't think about me too much, there, cutie. Your boyfriend might get mad." Jet said with a wink. I snorted a little. Fuujin groaned from behind him as she turned over a small coin sack that she was holding and shook it. She had been distracted the whole time as she was digging through it.

"We gotta get more moth balls, Jet!" she said.

"In your dreams." I said. I reared Kala and then sped back off towards Changsha again.

* * *

"Winner takes me..." said Jun. It had been three weeks since I killed General Wei and his battalion. So, far nothing bad had happened. It had been about a week since my encounter with the Freedom Fighters. They popped up in my mind from time to time. I was wondering if I should've said yes to that offer... But, I couldn't leave Jun all by herself. Family came before anything, especially since we just had each other now. Surprisingly, Jet popped up in my mind once or twice. He looked so cocky, and he was so... flirty... He looked as if he thought he could get any girl that he wanted. God, did I hate people like that... He wasn't bad looking though. His ego was just big.

I turned to Jun, not even struggling in the man who I was in an arm wrestle with. "How come winner always takes you?"

Jun smirked. "Cuz I'm stronger."

"Oh, we'll see about _that_." I said. As the word "that" came out of my mouth, I slammed the man's hand to the table. The men around us cheered and tossed coins at the table. I didn't partake in Jun's little games to get money like she usually did, but I was especially bored today. The muscular man grunted, ashamed of being beaten by me and left the table... It wasn't like many people could beat Jun or me at arm wrestling anyway. We were both extremely strong for our ages and sizes... and genders if you want to be sexist.

Jun walked over to his seat and shouted to the crowd. "ALRIGHT! LISTEN UP! THE LAST TIME I ARM WRESTLED SHEN, SHE WAS THIRTEEN AND I WAS EIGHTEEN. LET'S SEE IF SHE CAN BEAT HER OLDER SISTER AFTER FOUR YEARS! START YOUR BETS!"

The men and sparse women who watched from the floor above us cheered as Jun took a seat.

"Ready to be humiliated, lil sis?" she asked.

"Are you?" I retorted. Like normal siblings, both of us were always in competition... even if she was five years older than me. I took off the bracelet on my right wrist that resembled a metal nut and put it on the table, away from the range of both of our hands. Then I put my elbow on the table, my hand open for Jun to take it. She smirked at me and took my hand. With our left hands, we both tapped the table three times as we counted out loud slowly.

"One... Two... THREE!" we both said. Then we began to arm wrestle. After three minutes, both our muscles were working and you could see how sculpted both of us really were.

"Not bad, Shen." Jun said.

"I can do this all day.." I replied.

"Well, they won't wait all day, so let's finish this, shall we?" Jun asked. I cocked an eyebrow, smirked and then nodded. Both of us pushed against each other at full strength. We canceled out each other for a while, but soon both of us started to struggle as one of us would get the upper hand and then the other would. I was getting tired after a while, but I was about two inches away from winning. Everyone in the bar was going crazy. You could hear our names being chanted and yelled all over the place. Then, just as her hand came an inch from the table, Jun growled a little and slammed my hand on the table with a burst of energy. The audience that had accumulated around us roared as Jun let go of my hand with that annoying smirk on her face. Coins showered the table, more of them on Jun's side but there were some that went to me just for my performance.

"What was that about me being humiliated? You never learn, do ya, Shen?" Jun teased. I made a face and put my bracelet back on.

All of our heads turned when the door was broken off of its hinges and a group of Fire Nation soldiers walked in. The bar went so silent that you could hear a pin drop. The last of the Fire Nation men to walk in was a man in different armor from the rest. He was holding someone... the man from the village that I helped. He shoved the man in front of him so that he fell to the floor.

"Shit..." I said.

"We gotta go, now!" Jun whispered to me.

"I am Major Luu Ten! About three weeks ago, General Sho Wei of the fifth batallion was assassinated and the rest of his soldiers, but one poisoned. By this man, we have been led to believe that the assassin is here in this bar! Show him to us peacefully and we will do no harm!" the major yelled.

"See, this is why we don't help poor people..." Jun said, not moving so we didn't look suspicious. The man looked at me, glaring back at him. He was about to point to me when someone spoke up.

"The Fire Nation has never been peaceful with any place they invade! Even if the people cooperate! Why should we listen to you?" a man yelled.

"Silence!" the Major commanded.

"You're not our ruler, why should I listen to you?" the man yelled again.

"Are you going to let this Fire Nation Scum take one of us? If they get one thing from us, they won't stop at that! We'll be burned down, just like Tao Shai just was!"

"That's him! Get him!" the major yelled. The bar went into a riot.

Jun grabbed my hand. "Let's go!"

I grabbed my ring blade, which was leaning against one of the legs of the tables we were just sitting on, and put my head and left arm through it so it rested against my right hip and left shoulder. We slipped out of the back door to meet about seven soldiers. Jun pulled out her whip, attached to her belt. I got in front of her as three of the seven men firebended at us. I brought both of my hands together behind my head, my arms bent and brought them down forcefully, cutting through the flames and dispelling them. I waved my right arm in an outside block, disspelling a ball of fire. Jun rolled out from behind me and cracked her whip at one of the men. I was hit in the back with a fire blast that made me tumble on the floor.

"Shen!" Jun yelled.

I got up and clutched my head as I felt a pang. _"Uh oh... Looks like that fire blast caught you off guard."_

"Not now.." I said.

_"Lemme at em'!" _

Before I could protest to her demands, it was too late... When I picked up my ring blade again, my eyes were completely gold with red flakes. I felt as if I were simply watching what was happening as someone else took over my own body. I took my ring blade and planted it on the ground. I swung through it and drop kicked the man who firebended at me. I switched my grip on it and swung back around so that I was standing again. I stamped down on his chest hard as I stood at the side of him and spun my ring blade several times, slicing through his stomach brutally.

"What the fuck, Shen! SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT!" Jun yelled as she knocked out another of the soldiers. I shook my head and I was back to normal. I looked down at what "I" had just done, a little ashamed... Even though it was my job to kill people, I shouldn't have been killing right now. I ducked right in time to dodge a blast of fire and rolled backwards, holding my ring blade against my torso. Before I could land on my feet again, I kicked the fire bender with both of my feet together in his stomach. He went flying upwards and when he came back down, he was out like a light. I blocked the sword of one of the soldiers who wasn't a firebender and pushed him back. I swung my ring blade once, making his helmet rocket off of his head, and then hit the side of this head with the side of my ring blade, knocking him out. I turned around as Jun put her thumb and pointer finger of her right hand in her mouth, blowing and whistling just as I had before to call Kala when I was with Smellerbee. Nyla and Kala came running two seconds later. We both saddled up on them and ran away from the bar.


	3. Chapter 3

**authors note: sorry this took long and that it's short. tried to finish it up as quick as i could. i had 15 minutes before my taxi came to pick me up for my flight. you're gonna have to wait a little longer for the next one since I'm going to Belize today. I'll be there for nine days. (8/13/10 - 8/22/10) Sorry, ppl!**

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE :  
****To Protect Another...**

"You got us into some real deep shit now, Shen... I said no to that guy for a reason. How the hell do you think I keep the Fire Nation off our backs when people come in like that? I bribe them! That guy didn't pay you nearly enough for a good bribe, much less a profit... Oh yeah, I forgot... He didn't pay you!" Jun yelled. We'd lost the Fire Nation soldiers in the forest we were walking through on top of Nyla and Kala. Now we were just taking the long way through this forest back to our house.

"He was paying me. I told him to keep his money." I said.

"We're all tryin' to get by here, Shen... Business is tough. I don't get why you're so nice. You have to be a hardass to survive with this kind of job."

"I'm sorry I have a heart!"

"I have a heart!... Just when it comes to you, though."

I sighed in response.

"That's why I didn't take the assassin job. I had a chance to, but it's got so much more reprecussions than the bounty hunting... I didn't want you to become an assassin before, but it's what you wanted to do." Jun said sympathetically.

"No, it's what Dad wanted me to do..." I said. Both Nyla and Kala started growling.

"What is it?" Jun asked Nyla, bending down and petting her a little.

We heard a yell behind us. "There they are!"

Both of us looked to see the soldiers coming after us again, lighting their way through the dark forest with fire in their hands.

"Ah, shit! You gotta be kidding me!" Jun said. She whipped the reins of Nyla and started running off. I was close behind her. We had to ride out for at least an hour or so before we could lose them. We rode home as quickly as possible with detours. The next day, we caught a soldier while he was outside of the bar. We didn't dare go inside of it like we usually were. We made him go back to the Major and ask how much it would take to bribe him to leave and to announce that number to the bar. The Major laughed in response... He wasn't going to take any bribes and he wouldn't leave the town alone until he found the person who killed General Wei. Jun and I fled while we had the chance, going back to the house.

"This is bad, really bad..." Jun said. I didn't answer her.

"All I know is that he's goin' down. No way in hell am I going to leave this town." Jun continued.

_"What're ya gonna do now, huh? You guys are both in trouble... You know, I can take care of all of this if you would just let me."_

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I yelled. I clutched my head, letting go of Kala's reigns, and he stopped immediately.

Jun stopped and turned Nyla around, walking back to me. "Shen, are you okay...?"

I looked up at her with a scared look on my face. "She's back, Jun..."

"Who's back?" she asked.

"_Her..._" I said.

"Shen, are you talking about... Zhu**(authors note: "zhu" means "red" or "Vermillion" in chinese)**...?" Jun asked. I nodded.

"She hasn't bothered you since you were like seven... I thought she left you alone.." Jun said. I bit my bottom lip and looked away.

"Don't worry. She'll go away again. You just gotta get a hold of yourself. C'mon, let's go." Jun said. She nodded to me and then sped off on Nyla again. I took a deep breath in.

_"She's wrong... I'm here to stay. I've always been here... I was just taking a litle nap before."_

I shook my head and then gave Kala's reigns a whip. He looked back at me, concerned and then ran off.

* * *

I sighed, got up from my bed and got dressed. I hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep for the entire night. It'd been about four days since the Fire Nation came into the bar. They were still hanging around, but luckily they hadn't found out where we lived... yet. They were already starting to harrass the people of Changsha. Jun and I were extremely grateful that no one had given us up, but sooner or later the people would crack. I didn't want to see what would happen after that. Most of all, I didn't want to see Jun get hurt because of something that I did... I opened my drawer and took out a smal glass vial, putting it in my pocked. Then I took out a small black book. I opened the notebook to the middle pages and took out the two papers that were there. They were all the money I had split in half. These small pieces of paper were basically like debit cards. I stuffed the two pieces of paper in my pockets. I got a bag, my ringblade and shirasaya and went downstairs to the kitchen, where I got some food that would last me a while and some water.

_"You think leaving will do anything? They'll just hunt you down..." _Zhu said in my mind. Yes, now you are fully aware that I have a personality/identity disorder. I am schizophrenic. Once when I was younger, I was attacked by a platypus bear while I was playing hide and seek with Jun. I wandered a little too far... It chased me as I ran away from it. I tripped over a branch and got so scared seeing the animal over me that for some reason, my entire body was slowly engulfed in flames... The fire did nothing besides stay on my body, but it scared the platypus bear away... By the time Jun found me, the fire was gone and I was just crying. Another time, a bunch of boys were bullying me after school as I was walking home. I was about eleven. Jun was with her boyfriend, and I didn't want to wait for her so I walked home by myself. They tried to jump me. I got scared and angry and once again, my body lit up in flames... This time Jun saw me. After that, I was old enough to realize that I was a firebender. In denial, I told myself that that wasn't me... That was someone else. After years of telling myself that, I developed a split personality. I created Zhu, the firebender... She hadn't bothered me for a long time since I was able to control all of my emotions. The thing about me and Zhu is that I talked to her in my mind or outloud. Whenever she spoke to me when I was in control, it wasn't like I was acting out two different people... I just sounded like a crazy person talking to myself. If I ever got too hurt, scared, or angry, then she would come out. That's the reason I can disspell fire though. I believe that I can't use firebending, only she can. Still, I wondered why I was a firebender... I was born and raised in the Earth Kingdom by my father, who wasn't a firebender. He was a simple bounty hunter who took me and Jun along with him on his missions and trained us to become what we are now... My mother had died giving birth to me, so it was just the three of us. I always wondered why Father spent a lot more time with Jun than with me though... He always gave her things and played with her after training... He didn't do those things with me. He was always that way with us, until he died four years ago that is...

"Don't you think I know that?" I said back to her in my head.

_"So, what? You just gonna run away and let them slaughter every last person in this town? They're good at that, you know..."_

"No, I'm going to tell them who I am and then make them chase me... I'd rather then take my life than take the whole village, or take Jun specifically."

_"I don't get why you're so nice... So what? I mean, is dying really worth this village? Is it really worth one person's life?"_

"It's worth Jun's life..." I said outloud. I opened the front door and walked up to the stable, putting all of my stuff down by the entrance. Nyla stirred and Kala walked over to me. I opened up the gate in the stable and he walked up to me.

"Say bye-bye to Nyla, boy..." I said.

He whimpered a little bit.

"I'm sorry, Kala... We have to go."

Kala walked up to Nyla and nudged her cheek with his snout. She got up and rubbed her face against his. The two walked around each other in a circle once and then Nyla sat down again, cradling her head in her paws. Kala licked her cheek a couple times and looked to me as I approached the two. I took out a small knife attached to my belt and scraped off a thin layer of skin from my finger. I held the knife in my mouth, the skin on the blade, and took out the vial from my pocket. I uncorked it and then ran the blade of the knife across the opening, making the skin fall into the green serum inside. It fizzed up. Then I poked the same finger with the knife so that a bead of blood appeared. I put my finger on the vial's opening and let the bead fall into the serum. It fizzed again. I pet Kala, and pulled at some of his loose fur. I put a strand of it into the serum, making it fizz. Then I cleared a spot of fur from his side.

"Sorry about this, Kal." I said. I poked the spot with the knife and he snarled a little. I dropped his blood into the vial, just as I had done with mine. I corked the vial and gave it a couple shakes, watching it as the serum fizzed as it shook and turned purple.

I bent down and scratched behind Nyla's ears, admiring her for a minute. "Sorry girl, I gotta make sure you can't find us..."

She poked her head up and I poured the serum on her nose. She licked it off, sneezed and then thrashed her head around a little, not liking the taste. Nyla looked around the stable for a couple seconds then lowered her head and fell back asleep; We were invisible to her now, untrackable. The serum that I had given her made our scent completely disappear... It also knocked her out, cold. Kala whimpered, understanding what had just happened and followed me as I walked out of the stable. I picked up his saddle on the way out. Kala sat down and I put the saddle on his back, strapping it onto him. Then, I put all of my stuff in the bag that was attached the side of his saddle. He licked the side of my face. I smiled and pet his head. I looked to the door as Jun came storming out in her short red night dress and black silk robe.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"What does it look like? I'm leaving." I answered, making sure Kala's saddle and harnesses were secured.

"What do you mean 'I'm leaving'? You can't just leave when Fire Nation starts looking for us, Shen!"

I took a deep breath in after a couple seconds of silence and turned to her. Jun wasn't taking me seriously right now. She was still treating me like a little kid just because I was younger than she was. "They're looking for me. I don't want anyone in this village getting hurt or killed because of something I did... Especially you."

Jun's expression changed to one of anger. "What the fuck are you talking about? I'm fully capable of defending myself! You know that!"

"I know you are... I just don't want to put you through that."

"We're sisters, Shen! We stick together no matter what! I'll move, I don't care! You think I really give a shit about this village? We can get business anywhere."

"No, Jun... My mind's made up... I'm gonna lead the away from here."

I walked up to Jun and draped my arms around Jun's neck... She didn't hug me back, she just stood there. I started crying and hugged her tighter. I looked up at her and gave her a peck on the lips.

_"Awwh, this is just so touching... Ugh, would you hurry it up already?"_

Jun pushed me away, angry, after a couple seconds with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You know what?" she yelled. I sighed and walked over to Kala, getting on top of him a couple of feet away from her. She followed me up to him. Jun always went on rants and insult streaks when she was angry. I was about to go through another one of them... I was used to it by now though.

"You remember when I used to tease you about a secret? I'll tell you it now! Mom was raped by a firebender! That's how you were born! The man you called 'Dad' for all of your life isn't your real father! Zhu isn't real! She's you! You're not even my sister!" Jun yelled.

I looked down at her and laughed a little. "So that's why Zhu can firebend..."

I looked up at Jun. She had her teeth clenched and was glaring at me. "I love you too, sis..." I said.

Her look softened and she looked down. We were both silent. "We'll see each other again..." I said.

"Do you promise?" Jun asked, looking up.

"I promise..." I answered. We looked at each other for a minute and then I turned around and whipped Kala's reins. He sped off into the black, moonless night.


	4. Chapter 4

**authors note: okay people... i was supposed to be back two days ago, but what was supposed to be two flights from Belize to Miami(2 hours) and then from Miami to New York(another 2 hours)took two fucking days... OMFG! Lol, everything that could've gone wrong went wrong... anyways, you prob don't want to hear about it, so i'll give you your chapter lmaoo. oh yeah, and I realized that theres no such thing as a "Black Puma" so Kala is supposed to be a "Black Panther" XD simple mistake. fixing it now.**

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR :  
****Wandering**

I took a deep breath as the camp of the Fire Nation Soldiers came into sight. All of the soldiers were fast asleep in their tents right now... a scene that I was seeing for the second time.

_"You're really stupid for doing this. You're going to get both of us killed. What the hell are you planning on doing? Just barging into their and telling them who you are...?"_

A smile cracked on my lips as I answered her back in my head. "Yep... You forgot the part about me telling them to come and get me though."

Zhu fell silent... For once. If I died, she went with me. With my ring blade resting on my right shoulder and my left hip, and my sword sheathed in my right hand, I rode into the camp. Kala crawled through it without making a sound or being seen by using the shadows. This camp was set up exactly the same as the last one; All the soldiers in rows in the front and a big tent for the general in the back.

"You ready for this...? This is the official turning point in our life."

_"Whatever..."_

Once again, a small smile cracked on my lips from Zhu's reply... Was she possibly scared? No matter.. I reared Kala and he ripped through the thin sheet of the tent. The general sat up from his futon. Kala and I were lit up by the few candles that made light in the tent.

"Who the hell are you? What is the meaning of this?" General Luu Ten demanded. His hair was down and he was in nothing but an under robe with red trims and a pinkish hue.

I unsheathed my sword, pointing it at him with my right hand. "My name is Shen. I am the assassin that killed General Sho Wei and wiped out his batallion! I decapitated him and poisoned the water of his batallion. If you want me, come and get me!"

With that I resheathed my sword, putting it back into Kala's bag, and took out two small smoke bombs with one hand. Kala sprinted out of the tent the second they hit the ground. At the center of the camp, I threw a flash bomb on the ground in an attempt to wake some of the soldiers up.

I looked back at the camp, waiting about 100 feet away from it as I heard the General's voice yell. "**EVERYONE GET YOUR ASSES UP RIGHT NOW! SOUND THE ALARM! THE ASSASSIN OF GENERAL SHO WEI HAS BEEN DISCOVERED!**"

I scoffed a little. "As if _he _did any of the work... I came up to his face!"

I leaned back on Kala, my head resting on my hands. _"I think you should get going now..."_

"Aw, that's cute. Is lil Zhu-zee scared of the big bad Fire Nation?" I said in a baby voice. I paused a little to chuckle. "Don't make me laugh."

I stay laying there for a few minutes until fire was blasted at Kala. He reared, almost knocking me off of him. With some momentum from him I threw myself forward and hugged his neck. "Woah! Calm down there, Kala! Sorry, buddy... It's okay, let's go!"

The giant black panther roared at the soldiers coming our way before I gave his reins a tug and we sped off.

_"You got any idea where we're heading now?"_

"Anywhere! There's no water in the earth kingdom. Kala can run faster than they can."

_"Not too bright. How long do you think you can run from them? You can't keep doing this forever."_

"You're being as sour as a skunk bear right now! Usually I'm the one trying to stop what you're doing! Why do they scare you so much?" I argued with Zhu. She didn't answer.

"Fine, be like that! I like it better when it's just me in my head anyway!" I let out a little yelp as I ducked under another fire blast. I looked behind me to see that it was no longer men on foot. They were now three armoured tanks following me. Where they had gotten those, I had no idea...

"Ugh, so stupid! Why didn't I see those stupid shits before! I could've woken them all by blowing those stupid things up!" I yelled.

I pet the side of Kala's neck, staying low to avoid getting hit by more fire. "C'mon boy, you gotta speed it up!"

_"Kala's gonna get tired after a while, but those tanks won't..." _

"Shut up! I got this covered!" I answered her as I shook my head once. She fell silent once again. I had to out maneuver them somehow... My answer came to me as we approached a forest.

"Up, Kala!" I said. Kala growled a little in response. He sprinted towards the tall tree in front of us, picking up speed. Then he jumped about half way up the tree and ran up it, digging his claws into the trunk of it for leverage. When we got to a high point, we ran on tree tops. It took a while, so the tanks were closer to us, but it was harder for them t reach us. They couldn't burn us because of the limited view of things above the tank. They would have to burn the base tree we were in so it would fall, but Kala would just jump to another one long before that would happen. Even though he probably weighed a little less than those tanks did, he was quick on his feet and broke barely any branches. He knew the trees, so he knew exactly where he could run and where he couldn't. They were still after us after about an hour and a half of running through the tree tops. I knew where I was going, though. Those tanks couldn't run across water... I hoped. I came across the river I was heading towards within twenty minutes. Kala leaped out of the tree, into the water and we dove under. I tugged on his reins twice when I was running out of breath as we swam underwater and he surfaced. I turned around on him, sitting backwards, and disspelled the fire blasted at us until we safely got across. As I pressumed, the tanks could no longer follow me. The soldiers on the inside would have to get a boat... or swim if they were that desperate to catch me. So far, no one had made any moves. I had picked the perfect spot since the only way they could get to me was going through the river. I would be long gone if they tried to go around it. I watched as the tanks reversed away when I was about three-forths of my way across the river. I sighed in relief and Kala slowed down his pace of swimming a little.

"Alright, we made it, boy..." I said, giving him a well deserved ear scratching. He purred as he continued to swim.

* * *

I eventually found out that I didn't know the Earth Kingdom like I thought I did... I mean, I knew a good amount of it, but the place was HUGE! I had been aimlessly wandering about the Earth Kingdom with Kala for about three weeks now. We'd get attacked by Fire Nation every now and then, but we always got away. I'd been "alone" since we first left... Zhu's last words were "Kala's gonna get tired after a while, but those tanks won't..." It was starting to prove true. I was exhausted and weak. I could only imagine how tired Kala was, especially since he was carrying my weight and the weight of my remaining stuff. Most of the time, I'd try to give him a break by just walking beside him and even taking some of the load, but right now I was too tired, and we had to reach cover by nightfall. We were walking through an open plain right now. Fire Nation would be able to spot us easily and surround us... Both Kala and I ran out of food and water four days ago. We couldn't stop in any of the town since we had wanted posters put up from the Fire Nation and most of the towns surrounding us in this area were full of greedy men who were just looking for ways to get extra money without working. Even if their pictures of me weren't accurate, a giant black panther is a hard thing to miss or mistake as something else. I didn't want to risk leaving Kala on his own either. I was starting to wonder if what I had done was a mistake, but everytime I thought that, I thought of Jun, and I was reminded that it wasn't.

I reached down and pat Kala's side. "I'm sorry boy, just a little bit further. We'll make camp in the first forest we see, okay?"

Kala made a noise in reply as he kept on walking. I took a deep breath in, closing my eyes. As I exhaled, a large grappling hook came out of nowhere and pierced through Kala's right side up through the front of his chest. He roared loudly in pain.

"KALA!" I yelled. I can't believe I didn't notice the hook coming... I can't believe I didn't notice them coming! The closed hook hit the floor about two feet in front of him. The four claws opened as it was pulled back, piercing into Kala's chest again and getting a good grip on him. I looked back in the direction where the hook came from as it was being reeled in to see five tanks in a "V" formation. The one in the middle was larger than the other two on its sides and was the one that had shot out the hook. I took out my ring blade and tried to hack at the thick chain reeling us in as Kala roared and struggled against it, but it was no use. As tears rushed down my cheeks, I slung the ringblade around me and unsheathed my shirasaya. The results were the same. I resheathed the shirasaya and clutched my head, unsure of what to do. There was no way in hell that I could take down five Fire Nation tanks by myself. I was useless in this situation... but maybe _she _wasn't.

"Zhu! Zhu, do something! I need you!" I yelled out loud. After a couple seconds that passed by like hours, I felt that familiar pain in my head. I didn't fight it this time. When I opened "my" eyes, they were the color of Zhu's; golden with red flakes. She had taken over my body and now I was playing spectator in the prison of my own mind. I watched as she flipped off of Kala and ran along the chain of the tank. She swung herself underneath it and reappeared on top of the tank. She unscrewed the main hatch on the top of it and then grabed the inner wheel to open it. Zhu dropped down into the tank, still holding the wheel, and closed the hatch, letting go of the wheel before she landed. She extended both of her hands out from her sides, releasing the fire that had been compressing in her body. She was consumed in fire as it expanded through the rest of the tank. The inside and outside of the tank were built fireproof, but the soldiers, the general inside and their armour weren't. Most, if not all firebenders usually didn't go around setting themselves on Fire and causing explosions similar to bombs. That was one thing that was weird about Zhu's firebending; She was a walking bomb. She had the ability to compress flames inside of her and then let them all out at once, making an explosion similar to a bomb. She had learned how to control fire from examining and observing the behavior of bombs. She didn't understand the chemistry of them, but had learned to firebend by watching them. Zhu's fire didn't harm her or me. I remembered once that what she just did happened to me when I got scared of something. I couldn't control it and burned down hundreds of gold pieces worth of crops in our old village. My father, Jun, and I had to move after that... Zhu reached down at the controls and gripped a stick and pushed it forward, making the chain that was reeling in Kala stop. She jumped and kicked open one of the other hatches, closest to the the front, landing on the chain. Zhu put both of her hands on the chain, releasing the fire inside of her once again and burning the chain in half. She rolled out of the way, dodging a blast of fire and got into a fighting stance as the tanks began to close in and circle her. Kala's collapsed and weakened figure was outside of the circle. Kala looked at her, realizing that it wasn't me who was doing all of this. His crystal blue eyes locked with her gold ones.

"Go... Now..." she said, barely above a whisper. Kala slowly and wearily got up and ran off. The tanks stopped when the circle had a radius of about fifteen feet and, in unison, backed up until they were all facing her, then moved in closer. Their turrets pointed at Zhu. A smile slowly wiped on Zhu's face as the tanks started to shoot flames at her from their turrets. She danced around, dodging them, and shot small compressed balls of fire that were about the size of a pool ball into the turrets of all the tanks. Within seconds of contact, they exploded and the tanks stopped moving altogether. To her dismay, more tanks, as well as men atop komodo rhino's surrounded her.

She laughed, menacingly. "You think I can't take you all!"

No reply from any of the men as they surrounded her, weapons ready to fire and hands ready to bend. She chuckled a little to herself as she peered down at the ground for a couple seconds. All was silent until she lifted her head, glaring at everyone around her. "Well, this is the last thing you're going to see..."

Zhu waved her hands in the form that one would use to summon the powers of lighting, but instead of lighting, a sparkig flame illuminated her hands and trailed behind them as she moved.

"Fire!" was heard, but Zhu stood her ground, both of her hands tightly clenched in fists and arms crossed on her chest, her knuckles facing outwards and her eyes closed. She opened her eyes after enduring the compression and build up of fire inside of her and forcefully swung her arms out to both sides of her in the air, opening her hands. A huge explosion blew back and obliterated everything within a sixty-foot radius of the woman. A cloud of smoke shot out in the form of a mushroom. As the dust fell out of the sky, clearing a little, all that was left was a huge circle in the dirt and a girl standing exactly in the middle of it. She laughed to herself a little and then collapsed, both of us falling into darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE :  
****A Debt to Pay**

A group of six people, four boys and two girls, stopped walking as they came across a large crater in the ground with a diameter of about one hundred feet or so.

"What the hell...?" the younger girl with face paint that resembled red whiskers, Smellerbee, uttered.

"What do you think happened here?" asked a small boy with a helmet, "The Duke", atop the shoulders of a very large, husky boy, Pipsqueak.

The boy with bushy brown hair who was in the front of the group, Jet, bent down and examined the circle. It wasn't so much of a crater as just a circle that had all the grass and soil charred off of it. It was just a deeper level of soil. "I've got no idea... but we'll find out."

"Hm..." the other girl, Fuujin, alongside the silent archer, Longshot, said as she put her hand to her chin and looked up at the sky. She looked very similar to Jet. A huge grin extended from ear to ear after she took a light gasp in. It was as if a lightbulb had gone off in her head. Everyone looked at her as they heard her little gasp.

"Maybe... Just maybe..." she paused for a couple seconds. "ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD CAME DOWN HERE AND DID IT?" Fuu exclaimed, flapping her arms up and down as if they were wings. Everyone sighed.

"C'mon, let's go investigate this a little more." Jet said. He brushed past his twin, pushing her a little bit.

"And where else would 'aliens' be from? They kind of _have _to come from another planet..." he added, bursting Fuujin's little bubble. Fuujin pouted, crossing her arms and staying the spot she was in as everyone brushed past her. Smellerbee elbowed her side, making her step out a little. She looked back at Fuu as she walked.

"Oh, c'mon. Get over it." Smellerbee teased. Fuu pouted for another two seconds and then the huge grin that was on her face before came back as she ran over to Smellerbee, Longshot walking behind her.

"Okay, I'm over it!" she yelled.

Smellerbee looked at Longshot behind her. "Why are you with her again...?"

Longshot replied with a look, as he always did.

"Uh... I think its just you who thinks that 'the good inside of her outweighs the craziness.'..." Smellerbee said.

"HEY!" Fuu yelled at Smellerbee. She turned to Longshot and hugged him tightly. He blushed a light shade of red. "Aw, thank you, baby." she said with a smile.

"Hey guys, check this out!" the three heard Jet call. They ran over to him, The Duke and Pipsqueak all surrouding a trail of blood that had one large smeared path and what looked like large paw prints on both sides of the smear.

"Is that what I think it is...?" The Duke asked.

"C'mon!" Jet said, running along the trail. They came to a halt after ten minutes of following the trail to the end of the plain and into the beginning of a forest. Jet stared down at the familiar figure of a Giant Black Panther with a saddle on it. It was breathing slowly and deeply and appeared to be in pain, seeing as a large grappling hook attached to a heavy chain was pierced through it. It's eyes were closed, but they opened and looked up at Jet.

"Jet, what is..." Smellerbee started. She stopped when she saw the panther. "That's... T-That's Shen's panther..."

* * *

I awoke harshly as ice cold water slapped my body and soaked my clothes. I gasped in and jolted up, but then fell right back down, feeling a pain in my ribs that was stronger than the pain I felt everywhere else. I tried to clutch my ribs, but my arms were chain up behind my back. I heard laughter coming from around me as I curled into the fetal position, trying to deal with the pain.

"So, breakin' her ribs don't wake her up, but water does?" a voice said. I opened one of my eyes to see that I was surrounded by three Fire Nation soldiers. I couldn't see their faces because of their helmets, but I could definately hear them all laughing. The tank came to an abrupt stop.

One of the men bent down so that his helmeted face was inches from mine. "Well, here we are, pussy cat. Home sweet home for the night... Don't worry, the Fire Nation ain't too far away."

How the hell had I been captured...? I thought Zhu killed them all... I tried to ask her what was going on, but she wouldn't answer... Well, at least they left the town. They wouldn't be bothering anyone for me anymore...

* * *

The days passed by slowly. I was passed out for three days apparently before. Since I woke up, I no longer got the "comfort" of staying in the tank, and by "comfort" I mean the privelege of sitting my ass down on the floor instead of walking. Now, I was walking in the middle of the komodo rhino army formation, my hands chained to the saddle of one of them. Since I was in the center, there was no way for me to escape. It would be stupid to try. Every night on our way to the Fire Nation, I got beat. After a while, the only thing I fought for was the right to keep my legs closed. That was one thing that I would never let any of those Fire Nation scum do... I was woken up by the chain around my neck tightening as it was jerked forward. They made me a little makeshift choke collar out of a chain with no shackle on it...

"Wakey, wakey, sunshine." one of the Admirals, Admiral Choi, who I mostly walked behind while he was on komodo rhino back, said as he pulled me up to his face by the chain around my neck.

"Today's your lucky day. We got a message from the Fire Lord. He's a little busy right now and has lost his animosity towards you since General Wei wasn't the brightest crayon in the box."

I chuckled a little. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means_ we_ get to take care of you for him." Admiral Choi answered, stealing the smirk on my face and letting it slide on his. He held me up by my neck with one of his hands and then gave me a hard punch to the gut with his other. He dropped me and I curled up into a little ball.

"LET'S TAKE A VOTE! WHO SAYS... WE BURN HER TO A CRISP?" the Admiral yelled. I heard cheers from all around me.

"Alright, it's decided the-" Admiral Choi began.

He was interrupted by another soldier. "Wait, sir!"

"What is it, soldier? This better be good!"

"Burning her would be to quick... We _are _next to a lake... We should let her struggle a little against the catgators." the man answered. The cheers were louder this time. More shackles were put on me. The ones on both my ankles and my wrists were chained together about a foot apart. I was walking too slow for them at a point, and I was thrown over Admiral Choi's shoulder. I cried out in pain since a couple of my ribs were bruised. As my head hung, I felt something begin to slide out of my mouth... A last spark of hope was ignited in me as I remembered what it was; Concealed small throwing needles(senbon) with poison on their tips. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten about them! The poison was designed to paralyze whoever it came in contact with almost instantaneously. This was my chance... Sort of. I would need some help though with these chains.

"Zhu... Zhu..." I called in my mind.

_"Any last words?"_

"We're not dying today..."

_"What the hell are you talking about? We're about to die right now!"_

"Just trust me on this one... I need you to burn off the chains right as I shoot these out of my mouth... You can feel them, right?"

_"Alright..."_

This was my last chance. If we didn't do this, "we" would be no more. My heart beat sped up as we drew closer and closer to the center of the metal bridge that stood over the lake. This lake was actually a river, but right here in this part, it seemed like a lake because the water was calmer here and it was more circular shaped. The bridge linked two cliffs about fifty feet above the lake. I knew they would drop me from there.

"Say bye-bye, girl! This is what you get for messing with the Fire Nation!" the Admiral said. I was put down, facing the water on the edge of the bridge. There were soldiers on the bottom who had worked up the catgators. There were about twelve of them down there, swimming around, occasionally snapping their jaws. I definately wouldn't last more than a minute if I fell in there... Just as I was about to turn around and spit out the senbon from my mouth, there was an explosion of a sulfuric gas that made everyone's eyes water and burn, as well as their nostrils when it was inhaled. The gas was as thick as pea soup. Before I could think to escape, I was kicked off of the bridge. It was a classic "THIS IS SPARTA!" kick... except to my back. I screamed as I went in midair, about to fall to my death to the catgators. Suddently, the chain aroung my arms(there was another long chain attached to the small chain in between my wrist shackles)jerked. A catgator jumped up, but I was too high up for it to reach. My scream of fear turn into one of pain, as the jerk gave my body whip lash and made me swing under the bridge a little. I could do nothing but look up at the bridge as I started being pulled up. The gas still lingered above in the bridge, but it was starting to dissipate a little. The figure helped me up onto the bridge when he or she pulled me up onto it. I stood there, on all fours for a second, coughing because of the gas. A hooksword came down in between my hands and broke the chain with a "clink!". I looked up at my savior as he pulled the black bandana covering his nose and mouth down from his face. It was...

"Jet..." I said, in a little bit of awe for some reason.

"Hey, there." Jet answered with a smirk. We stared at each other for a minute, but our little moment was interrupted as Jet ducked, dodging a swing of a fire nation soldier's sword. He turned around, blocking the downward swing and then stood up, pushing the soldier back and off balance. He gave the soldier a hard round house kick to his side and he went flying off of the bridge, his scream fading until we heard a splash.

"Let's go." Jet said, putting his bandana over his face. He extended his hand to me and helped me up as I took it. He cut all of the shackles on me off and then turned around, guiding my hands around his neck. I jumped up and he grabbed my legs.

"Try not to breathe here." he said. I nodded and smothered my face in the crevice between his neck and shoulder. As he ran across the bridge, he made a weird whistle. We were the first to emerge from the gas cloud, but we were shortly followed by Fuujin, Smellerbee, Longshot, The Duke, and Pipsqueak. As Fuu ran, she threw another smoke bomb into the cloud since it was becoming fairly see through. Screams were heard from the people below in the lake as welll as coughing from the remaining soldiers who hadn't been knocked off of the bridge by the rest of of the gang. I lifted my head up from Jet's shoulder and looked ahead as he ran with me in front of everyone else.

"So, how bout' it? How'd you like to become a Freedom Fighter, now that I see you're alone, Shen?" Jet asked.

I paused for a minute before answering him. "Sure, why not?"

"Every member has a chance to start a new life. You get a clean slate, which means you get a new name. What'll it be?"

"Hmm... I think I'd like to keep my old name, if that's okay with you. Do I have to change it?" I asked.

"No, you don't have to... Heh, that's just like my sister. When I offered for her to change it, she refused too."

"I've got nothing in my past that I want to leave behind."

"Alright then, Shen, as of this moment, you are officially a Freedom Fighter."

I laughed a little. "Is saving people a weekly activity?"

"Nah... Getting to save you is a special occasion." Jet said, looking back at me.

I blushed a little, but looked away, trying to hide it. "Nice try..."

Jet laughed. "Oh, don't worry. I'll get you one day. You won't even know that it hit you until you realize that you can't leave me."

"Cocky, aren't we? Right now, only one thing impresses me about you, and it's not your attitude or your looks." I said... I was kinda lying about the last part, though. I just didn't want to feed his ego. I could already tell it was the size of a lion turtle, and I'd only been with the guy for about ten minutes. Jet made his group make a little safety stop in the trees about four or five miles east of their home, just in case we were followed. Longshot sat in a different branch from us, watching guard in the direction where we left the soldiers. The rest of us sat on a huge branch.

"So, how'd you guys find me? How'd you know I was here?" I asked.

They all looked away. "What?" I asked.

"We found your panther..." Jet said.

"Kala! Is he alive?" I said, jolting forward a little. I retreated in pain, clutching my ribs. I had moved WAY too fast.

"It was too late by the time we found him. He was still alive, but barely... He died a couple minutes after we found him... I'm sorry, Shen." Smellerbee said.

"Oh... That's okay..." I said. I hung my head, trying to distract myself by looking down at the ground below us. There was a little silence as I held in my tears.

"We can take you to see him if you want though." Fuujin said.

I looked up at her. "I'd appreciate that."

Jet got up. "It's late. You guys get going back to the treehouse. I'll take her to Kala."

Fuu nodded and got up first, followed by everyone else. We watched them leave, and then Jet turned to me. "You ready?"

I nodded and he bent down with his back facing me. I got up slowly, using the trunk of the tree for support and grabbed onto his neck, resting my torso against his back as lightly as possible since my ribs were aching still. He grabbed my legs as I held onto his neck and slowly stood up. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah... As okay as I'll be in this state..." I answered.

"Alright, I'll take it slow for ya, then." Jet said. He waited for me to respond, but I said nothing. Normally, I would've fought against that, but right now Kala was the only thing on my mind. After a couple seconds, Jet began running through the trees. It took about an hour to get to where Kala was. I was closing my eyes the entire time. They were still closed when Jet stopped moving... I didn't want to see Kala dead.

"We're here..." Jet said. I didn't reply. After about a minute, I slowly dropped my legs down to the ground, my back still leaning against Jet.

He turned around and looked at me. I looked at him for a second, and then look at the ground next to him. "I'll give you a minute alone..." He said. My eyes followed Jet as he walked away. He disappeared behind a tree about thirty feet away from me. My gaze was fixed on that tree for a minute and then it slowly turned back. I looked at the tree in front of me and bit my lip. Then I looked down at Kala... They had pulled the grappling hook out of his body, just leaving the huge hole in him that went from his right side, close to his arm, through his chest. The hook laid a couple feet away from him. His eyes were closed and his face peaceful. I stood there, staring at my fallen friend, and for a couple minutes, nothing happened; I just felt numb. Then, it hit me. I bit my lip again and brought my hand to my face, covering my mouth as I began to sniffle and sob and trying to hold it in.

"Oh, Kala!" I cried.

I collapsed on my knees, leaning my upper half against his fur as I hugged Kala tightly and cried into him.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX :  
A New Life**

I woke up the second I felt a hand on my shoulder. My eyes shot open and I reached for the knife that I always kept in my pocket, but nothing was there. I winced in pain from moving too fast.

"Relax, it's only me." Jet said, his hand still on my shoulder while he played with the stalk in his mouth with the other.

I looked up at him. "Oh, sorry.."

"C'mon, let's get going before the sun comes up." Jet said.

"Okay." I answered. I looked back at Kala and sighed as my hand ran along his body to his saddle. I unbuckled it and slipped it off of him.

"You were really attached to him, weren't you?" Jet asked.

"Yeah... He wasn't just transportation, he was my best friend... I spent almost as much time with this guy as I did with my sister." I answered.

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah... I had to leave her though... for her own protection."

"Oh..." Jet said.

I put my hand on Kala's face and carressed his cheek. "You've already done a lot for me, and I don't want to bother you anymore, but... D-Do you think we could come back here later and bury him? I would do it myself, but I can't carry him alone..."

"Not a problem... We'll come back tomorrow with the others." Jet answered.

"Thank you." I said with a little smile. I was expecting Jet to turn around so I could climb onto his back again, but instead he picked me up bridal style. I held onto Jet around his neck and blushed slightly, but shook the thought off. As he started running, I leaned my head against him and quickly drifted back to sleep.

* * *

I woke up when Jet came to a halt.

"We're here." he said as he gently put me down.

I looked around and saw nothing but trees. "So, where exactly do you guys live?"

"Like I said, right here." Jet answered. I gave him a weird look. He smirked back at me and then climbed up the tree in front of us. He became lost in the leaves after a few seconds, but jumped down with a rope looped around his wrist.

"Well?" Jet asked, extending his hand to me. I took it and he brought me to him. He put his arm around my waist, but I winced a little.

"Are your ribs hurt?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine though." I answered through clenched teeth.

"I'll have my sister take a look at you. She's the healer around here. Just bare with me for a couple seconds, okay?" Jet said. I nodded and wrapped my arms around his neck as he held me around my waist tightly. He gave he rope a tug and it started to be reeled in, lifiting both of us off of the ground. I looked around at the green leaves and the flower buds that had just began to pop up. It was the beginning of spring right now. The scene was short, but amazing. Jet let go of the rope at the first deck. I let go of him, walking away from him a little, and stared in awe at all of the tree houses hidden in the canopy of the trees.

"Welcome to your new home, Shen." Jet said.

"Wow... This place is amazing..." I uttered.

Jet walked next to me. "Yeah... Don't get me wrong, it was a pain in the ass to build, but I think it was worth it."

I laughed a little. Then Jet continued. "The Fire Nation'll never find us up here. The only time of year we have to worry about is winter since the trees lose their leaves, but so far nothing's happened and we've been here a while."

There was a little silence between us as my face saddened.

"What's the matter?" Jet asked.

"I know I said I wanted to be a Freedom Fighter, but I really don't think that you want me part of your group." I answered.

"Whatever it is, don't worry about it. I told you before that everyone gets a chance for a new life here. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past."

I turned to Jet. "The reason I ran away from my home and got captured was because of the Fire Nation. I'm an assassin. I killed a battalion and its General for a job and they came after me. I don't want to put you guys in danger."

"You're already a Freedom Fighter. I'm not gonna turn my back on you and neither will anyone else. Most of the kids that are here with me are here because of the Fire Nation, just like you... Including me and my sister." Jet said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"When I was eight, the Fire Nation attacked my village... Both of my parents were killed. Fuu and me were the only ones who survived... It's changed us ever since. The fact that you're involved with the Fire Nation like that gives me more of a reason to protect you."

I smiled. "Thanks... Jet... For everything. Saving me, bringing me here. You really didn't have to."

"I know I didn't." Jet answered. He cupped my chin and made me look up at him. "I wanted to."

We stared at each other for a minute and then we slowly started moving closer together. Right before we kissed, Jet took the stalk out of his mouth. I retreated from him after a couple seconds and blushed, looking away. I couldn't believe I just kissed him... I used to be hit on at the bar with Jun all the time. One thing my sister taught me well was how to play hard to get, whether it was because I wanted to get someone off of my ass or just to give someone a little "test" to see if they were worthy enough to spend my time on. She said that the good looking, flirty guys were the ones that I had to play hard to get with because most of the times they were just scumbags who knew they were good looking and used that to get girls. Meh... He got me when I was weak... Every girl has that "knight in shining armour" fantasy. I was a damsel in distress right now.

"C'mon, I'll show you to your room. Fuujin will take a look at ya in the morning." Jet said as he replaced the stalk in his mouth and walked past me, motioning for me to follow him. Since the deck wasn't attached to anything, I had to hold onto Jet as we used one of the many ziplines attached to the tree to go to one of the, once again, many treehouses. Seeing all of them made me wonder just how many people were part of the Freedom Fighters. We crossed two more ziplines in between more treehouses and stopped at a platform with what looked like three seperate units.

"Well, this'll be your place. Smellerbee's to your left and Fuu is to your right." Jet said as he opened the door to the middle unit. He walked into it, picking up spark rocks that were on the table and went around the room, lighting up all of the candles in the candleholders on the walls with the spark rocks. When the room was fully lit, I saw that it was like a studio apartment.

"This is all for me?" I asked.

"Yeah. The older kids you, me, Fuu, Smellerbee, Longshot, and some of the others need their own space like this. Bathroom's over there. Just chuck the water out of the window when you're done taking a bath. Don't worry about not having a kitchen. We all eat dinner together every night... Oh, I almost forgot. There's some stuff for you on the bed." Jet said. There was a wooden floor, of course with a large carpet about five feet from the door. A small coffee table carved out of a large tree trunk was in the center of the carpet and two makeshift sofas, made out of hay, grass and feathers tied together with cloth on top of them. The table had a small pit for a fire for light. There were candle holders all over the walls of the room for lighting. Another five feet away from the carpet was a queen sized bed with a wooden frame, right next to two windows. The mattress was made out of the same materials and in the same way as the sofas. There was a dresser in front of the bed with a mirror attached the the wall behind it. The bathroom door was in the gap in between the bed and the carpet and a closet was behind the sofa closest to the same wall where the bathroom was. I walked through the treehouse, looking around at everything until I came up to the bed. My ringblade and shirasaya were on it. I didn't say anything. I picked up my ringblade and stared at it with a smile on my face.

"Thank you... Again, Jet." I said, the same smile still plastered on my face.

"Don't thank me. My sister was the one who picked them up. She thought they were yours since they didn't look like Fire Nation weapons. Well, I'm gonna let you get some rest. You must be tired. Tell me if you need anything. I'm just across the zipline at the other end." Jet said. He turned around to leave. I walked up to Jet and spun him around, taking the stalk out of his mouth and planting a kiss on his lips.

"Thank You." I said. I stuck the stalk back in his mouth as he smirked.

"Goodnight, Shen." he answered. Then he left, closing the door behind him and leaving me all smiling. My smile faded away for a couple seconds.

"Wait... why did I just do that...?" I asked myself. I heard a little snort in my head.

"You've been awfully quiet, haven't you? We're safe now, there's no reason why you shouldn't have been talking to me that entire time." I said as I walked to the bathroom, taking the spark rocks with me. I lit the candles on the walls and such for light. There was a closet inside of the bathroom filled with six big barrels of water. Another barrel was right next to the bathtub.

_"I was nice and gave you some time with your little pet. You should be happy for that.."_

"That's not what I meant. What about the entire time I was with Jet?"

I got another snort in response from her. I took off the lid and picked up the large bucket next to it. I filled up the bath with water and took the soap on the sink, placing it on the side of the tub. I stripped off my clothes and climbed inside of the tub. The cold water tingled as it touched my skin. I sighed and sunk down into it completely. I came back up when I was beginning to get out of breath and sighed again, washing the dried blood off of my face.

_"Oh look at you... So happy about your new found life here? What makes you think that we belong here? What makes you think that nothing's going to happen? You'll mess things up. That boy doesn't seem to like the Fire Nation very much..."_

"Neither do you, obviously... As I recall, someone wouldn't talk to me the entire time we were captured by them."

_"That doesn't matter... You called me for help before that... One day, you'll need me again. I'll answer when you really need it and him and everyone else here will all find out that I'm a firebende and you're little dream will go down the drain."_

"No! That's not going to happen!"

Zhu laughed_. "Just wait for it... You'll see..."_

* * *

The next day, I was woken up in the middle of the afternoon when someone bursted into my room. I sat up immediately, throwing my ringblade... It was a reaction since I still wasn't comfortable here. I recoiled in pain after throwing the ringblade, clutching my ribs. The ringblade was deflected and fell to the floor, leaving Fuu, Jet's twin, standing there with a saya(small japanese knife, kinda like a mini shirasaya)in one of her hands. The other one was behind the blade of the saya, supporting it when she blocked. A Saya... Only people skilled in arts with the shirasaya or katana used it.

Fuu's serious face instantly changed into a smile from ear to ear. "Whew! That was a close one! Heh heh!"

"Sorry..." I said.

"Oh, ish ohkay!" Fuu said in a weird accent. She walked up to my bed and sat down on it, putting the bag that was looped around her elbow down on the nightstand.

"I'm Fuu!... If you don't remember. Jet's twin? I'm here to make you feel all better!" Fuu exclaimed.

"Okay...?" I agreed... This girl was a little _too _happy.

"Okay, then! Let's start!" Fuu said. I told her that my ribs were bothering me. She threw the pillow that was under me on the other side of the bed and eased me down. Since I slept in my underwear, there was nothing really to take off.

"This is gonna hurt. I have to check out what happened by feeling it." Fuu said. I nodded. She reached into her bag and pulled out a metal bar, putting it near my mouth. I bit down on it and then she began to examine my ribs. I screamed as I bit down on the bar, pain rushing through my body at the slightest touch from Fuu. I let the bar drop from my mouth as the pain subsided.

"None of them are broken, but a lot of 'em are bruised up and two on the bottom right have tiny fractures. All I can really do it wrap it up so it heals the right way." Fuu said. I nodded. She wrapped up my ribs and examined the rest of my body, cleaning up cuts with alcohol to avoid infection.

"Okay, you're all done! You can keep the bag, it's my gift to you. It's got some stuff you might need. I'll take you shoppin' once you're better." Fuu said with a smile. I thanked her.

"So, where'd you come from? Why did the Fire Nation have you... if you don't mind me asking..."

"It's fine. I was doing an old man a favor. I'm an assassin. He didn't have enough money to pay me, but his village was massacred by the Fire Nation. He said he wanted revenge, so I helped him out. My sister said that she usually just bribed the Fire Nation if they ever came after us since we usually worked together, but they never came after us like that before. I left her to keep her safe, gave the Fire Nation a heads up of who I was and got captured a few weeks after running."

"Oh wow... The Fire Nation took my family away from me too... They burned our village. I was lucky that I got out with Rai-...Jet."

"Rai...?" I asked.

Fuu sighed. "Well, guess the kitty's outta the bag! Jet's name was Raijin before he changed it to 'Jet'."

I smirked a little.


End file.
